Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

The Effect of Further Training on Wage Growth in West Germany, 1984–1992

In this paper, we use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) to examine the effect of further training on wage growth in West Germany for the period 1984 to 1992. After controlling for the endogeneity of the training participation decision and the presence of unobserved fixed effects, we estimate a wage growth equation which reveals that further training positively affects wage growth. However, ...

European Integration, Equality Rights and People´s Beliefs: Evidence from Germany

At the outset, this article describes in detail how the European Union has replaced the nation-state concept of equality with a transnational idea of equality for all European citizens. It then investigates the extent to which German respondents support the idea of non-discrimination between German nationals and other Europeans. The existing literature argues that the process of opening up the borders ...

Firm Size and Wages in Germany - Trends and Impacts of Mobility

The Role of Morbidity for Proxy-Reported Well-Being in the Last Year of Life

Late-life well-being often shows steep deteriorations, but the contributing factors are not well understood, in part because data about people’s final year of life are scarce. Here, we draw from and test theoretical perspectives that health-related vulnerabilities undermine the experience and skills older adults typically use to maintain well-being (Charles, 2010). To do so, we examined how various ...

On-The-Job Training Differences by Sex and Firm Size

Firm Size and Wages

Time preferences and political regimes: Evidence from reunified Germany

We use the separation and later reunification of Germany after World War II to show that a political regime shapes time preferences of its residents. Using two identification strategies, we find that former residents of the German Democratic Republic exhibit a significantly less pronounced present bias when compared to former residents of the Federal Republic of Germany, whereas measures of patience are ...

Let Bygones be Bygones? Socialist Regimes and Personalities in Germany

This paper investigates the influence of political regimes on personality, using the separation of Germany into the socialist GDR and the democratic FRG and its reunification in 1990 as a natural experiment. We show that there are significant differences between former GDR and FRG residents regarding important attributes of personality (particularly the locus of control, neuroticism, conscientiousness, ...

The Individual and Joint Performance of Economic Preferences, Personality, and Self-Control in Predicting Criminal Behavior

We explore the individual and joint explanatory power of concepts from economics, psychology, and criminology for criminal behavior. More precisely, we consider risk and time preferences, personality traits from psychology (Big Five and locus of control), and a self-control scale from criminology. We find that economic preferences, personality traits, and self-control complement each other in predicting ...

Do individuals try to maximize general satisfaction?